Love is not an illusion. It is a fact. Where disillusionment is possible, there was not love but hate. For hate is an illusion, and what can change was never love. (T-16.IV.4)

You Are Not Who You Think You Are

I just returned from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in which nearly 200,000 people from around the world convened in Las Vegas to showcase the latest in technology trends. One of those awe-inducing innovations is virtual reality.

By strapping on a headset and gloves, you literally enter another world. The images and dynamic movements have become so realistic that the effect is, simply, shocking. After a few seconds you’ve forgotten about the technology you’re wearing and have now inhabited a completely new persona.

I am me, but now I’m a different me.

Which me is me? The one in this virtual world where I’m now existing, or the one wearing the VR gear?

The answer to that question is even more shocking than the VR itself.

Neither me is me.

We are so accustomed and conditioned to believe that the world around us shapes us and makes us who we are.

Just ask any stranger you meet at a party or event to describe themselves, and their response will inevitably be something related to the world they inhabit. Probably something to do with their job (title, responsibility, accomplishments) or their role in society.

Go ahead and answer the question for yourself. “I am ______.” Fill in that blank.

The truth is that the world does not make us or shape us – rather, it shows us who we’ve chosen to be.

It has nothing to do with the world, nor even the people in the world and what they do.

If we are upset or sad, we believe it’s because (caused by) someone or something going on in the world.

But it just isn’t so.

No one and no thing can make us upset, sad, or unhappy. Nothing.

It’s all a choice we make in the mind.

The world – and other people – simply show us which choice we’ve made.

None of our emotions are caused by what’s going on in this world or the headsetted VR world. Or any other world. All our emotions come from the choice we made in the mind on how we want to experience the world. In the insightful words of James Allen,

“Circumstance does not make the man; it reveals him to himself.”

So, instead of lamenting the condition of the world and wishing things / people would change, we would be well-served to change our mind about the world. The new world we then experience is far more extraordinary and blissful than any VR experience.

Join me in Monday’s class where we’ll discuss the source of our emotions and how we can change our minds to experience incredible peace. I look forward to seeing you then.